RETOOL

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does retool mean? 

• RETOOL (verb)
  The verb RETOOL has 2 senses:

1. revise or reorganize, especially for the purpose of updating and improving

2. provide (a workshop or factory) with new tools

  Familiarity information: RETOOL used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RETOOL (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they retool    ... he / she / it retools   
Past simple: retooled   
Past participle: retooled   
-ing form: retooling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Revise or reorganize, especially for the purpose of updating and improving

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

retool; revise

Context example:

We must retool the town's economy

Hypernyms (to "retool" is one way to...):

reorganise; reorganize; shake up (organize anew)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Sense 2

Meaning:

Provide (a workshop or factory) with new tools

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Hypernyms (to "retool" is one way to...):

exchange; interchange; replace; substitute (put in the place of another; switch seemingly equivalent items)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

 Context examples 

That accomplishment raises the possibility that scientists might be able to retool nature to create new forms of proteins for therapeutic and other uses.

(Expanding the Genetic Alphabet, NIH)

ARS scientists have devised a method to retool the compound so that it poses little to no danger to human or animal cells but can still kills germs.

(Soil Bacterium Tapped for Penicillin Guard Duty, U.S. Department of Agriculture)